


Declaration

by poppetawoppet



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 05:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4694042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppetawoppet/pseuds/poppetawoppet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><a class="i-ljuser-profile" href="http://pretendhappyend.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://pretendhappyend.livejournal.com/">pretendhappyend</a> donated some money for <a class="i-ljuser-profile" href="http://ontd-ai.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://ontd-ai.livejournal.com/">ontd_ai</a> 's dollar drive for Haiti. Prompt: Cook and Archie haven't seen each other in a year (working a lot, tours, etc), and they've had less and less contact. What happens when they meet again? I love first kisses, angst, lust, and happy endings. I'm not sure about the lust part</p>
            </blockquote>





	Declaration

>

It had been three weeks since he had last spoken to Cook.

It shouldn't have worried him. David worried about a lot of things, but Cook was not usually one of them. Cook was one of those guys, that even if he was hanging by one hand off the edge of a cliff, you wouldn't worry about him. But David did. He got that way sometimes.

It wasn't like panic attacks or anything, it was just that he got to thinking about stuff, and then he started to worry, and then…

David closed his eyes and did his breathing exercises. _He's on tour right now. He's just gotten busy._

But Cook had never been too busy to talk to David. Unless…

_No one has told him, David. I mean you haven't told anyone you are ridiculously in love with your best friend, so how can anyone else know?_

David opened his eyes, staring at the wall of the bus. If he could remember what time zone he was in, or what time zone Cook was in, he would call him. But what if Cook knew? And wasn't calling because he thought it would be awkward? Surely that wasn't it?

_Breathe_

He wasn't sure when it had begun. Of course touring and riding in a bus with five other guys and certainly opened his eyes, as well as moving out, but somehow he had never really thought of himself as gay. He still liked girls. He was pretty sure of that. But sometimes…

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had always liked boys too, but had never found anyone that had interested him enough for the feelings to come out in the open and be recognized.

But Cook would never look at him like that. Cook had all he wanted if he wanted to abuse his star status. The rumors that flew around him almost made David sick. But he thought he had dealt with it rather well.

Except Cook hadn't called him in two weeks. And David hadn't seen him in nine months.

David put his face in his hands, trying to breathe, but choking instead. He curled up, a ball of hurt and want. He couldn't tell anyone. Not anyone. And it killed him.

*

He meant to call Archie. David had gotten out of the habit of texting him daily, and with the tour and the movie, David kept getting sidetracked. Plus he could never remember exactly what time zone Archie was in, and the kid needed sleep.

_He isn't a kid anymore_

David tried to ignore the voice in his head. The one that he was almost ashamed of.

_But he isn't. He's twenty years old, David._

"And I'm too old. And too male," David muttered to himself. "And stop thinking stupid stuff like that. It's _Archie._ "

David sighed. He'd always loved the kid, but somehow, he had found that he _loved_ the kid. Archie. David. Somehow their daily texting/weekly phone calls/ sometimes hang outs had turned into something more for David. He actually missed having Archie around.

He covered it up by partying a little too hard, and dating the wrong women, but every once in awhile he would sit on the bus and wonder what Archie would have said about a certain crowd or the way a certain set went. The further apart their talks got, the more time David had to think about it. Which was not healthy.

He wanted to call Archie. He did. It just always slipped out of reach, and then he'd feel guilty about not doing it and put it off again, and it cycled over and over until he hadn’t talked to Archie in almost three months and hadn't seen him in a year. He was crabby and irritable and no one knew why.

Neal tried booze. Andy tried women. Kyle. Kyle said nothing and called David's mother.

"Mom I'm fine"

"No you aren't. Tell me what's wrong?"

David looked around, even though he was in a hotel room by himself. And then it all came tumbling out, from the moment he had first told himself he couldn't possibly be attracted to Archie to the moment he had stopped calling him.

"I think I fucked up, Mom."

"I'd say so, baby. Call him. He's off his tour right now."

"But—"

"Are you arguing with you mother?"

"No."

"Then call him. Talk to him at least."

"Yes, Mom."

But David couldn't stand the thought of not hearing Archie's voice on the other end, so he chickened out and texted him

_Hey, sorry I haven't called. I'm a dumbass. You should come to a concert or something._

It was an agonizing thirty minutes before his phone buzzed.

_Oh. You are not! I should come. Let me look at my schedule. Miss talking to you._

_Yeah, me too._

David held the phone to his chest for a minute. This was stupid. Archie was his friend. His friend. But David knew he had to tell Archie, or it was going to eat him up.

If Archie never talked to him again, David wouldn't blame him. He closed his eyes, trying to come up with the words that would probably break his heart.

*

It was funny how he thought of himself as Archie when he was around David. It came to his mind more readily than his given name most days anyway, so the reversion to his nickname felt comfortable.

It didn't make him any less nervous.

"Hey Arch!" Andy waved as he came backstage.

"Hey Andy," Archie said. "I guess David is still signing?"

"Yeah. But you can hang out here till he gets back. Then maybe we can all hang out again."

"That'd be cool."

Archie looked down at his hands, fiddling with them nervously. _You can do this. Just tell him. If he doesn't already know. Oh, gosh, what if he knows? I think I'm going to puke._

"You okay Arch?" Andy asked.

Archie shrugged. "I just. It's complicated."

Andy nodded sagely, and Archie struggled to swallow. Andy knew. That look in his eyes. If Andy knew, David surely did. What if David only brought him here to tell him they couldn't be friends anymore? David would never do anything like that over the phone. Surely that was what was going down.

Or maybe it was just a friendly visit. Archie could handle that. It wouldn't be perfect, but at least he could see David.

Somehow Andy had left the green room and David stood in the doorway.

"Kid, you look like shit."

His voice was low, brusque, probably from singing too much. He was covered in sweat and his hair was a mess. He was perfect. Archie stood, rubbing his hands together.

"Hi Dave."

"I haven't seen you for a year, and all I get is hi Dave? Come here."

David crossed the room and gathered Archie in a big hug. Archie leaned a little, squeezing tighter than he meant to, laughing as David fake groaned and pulled away smiling.

"All right. I thought I was going to talk first, but you look like you are going to be physically ill. What's wrong, Arch?"

Archie shook his head, as if to say nothing, but David kept looking at him and it all boiled over.

"I can't do this anymore," he sobbed, and David's arms were around him again.

"Hey, hey, shhhhhhh. It's all right."

Archie pulled away, suddenly angry for no reason. "No. It's not all right! I've been sick about it forever and I can't do it anymore!"

"Why?"

_David didn't know._ Archie thought, biting his lip. It was now. Now was the time.

"I'm hopelessly in love with my best friend and there is nothing I can do about it. I thought you knew, and I was worried about whether or not you knew, and then I was worried that we could never be friends and now I just don't care. Oh gosh, I have to go now."

Archie didn't even wait for a response before running out of the room. It was better this way. Much better.

*

David stared at the open door for a full minute before moving. Then he whipped out his phone, calling Archie's manager. He told her a white lie, saying Archie had lost his hotel key, and if she could have one delivered the concert hall, that would be amazing. David also told her Archie couldn't call because he was still searching for the original, because Archie was the kind of guy who would want to find it anyway.

An hour later, David had the key. Luckily, the hotel had put it in an envelope complete with logo and room number. Things were looking up. He poked his head into another room, where the band was packing up.

"Hey, is Archie okay?" Andy asked. "He looked down."

"No. But I'm going to make it okay."

The whole band looked up in unison, sly smiles on their faces.

"You _knew_?"

"We love you Dave," Neal said, "but you are pretty fucking obvious. We love him too, so it's cool. Hurt him, though and we will break you."

"Thanks," David said drily.

He drove to the hotel, surprised at the quiet setting. It was nice not to be followed for once. He shifted from foot to foot in the elevator, nervous and excited. He had no idea what he was going to say. He slipped the card in the door, shutting and locking it behind him. He heard loud noises from the bedroom part of the suite. He poked his head around the door, raising his eyebrows as he watched Archie kick the wall, muttering "Stupid, stupid" under his breath.

"Arch?"

Archie looked up, his face an image of terror David hadn't seen since their AI days.

"How—"

"How is not important. Why is."

"I don't understand," Archie whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed, and hanging his head.

"See the thing is, I have a confession to make. See I made the mistake of letting things slide I thought maybe it was better we didn't talk, because then maybe I would stop thinking about you in the way you did. Or have the feelings I felt."

Archie looked up, his eyes wide.

"See, I've been in love with my best friend for a real long time, and I had no idea how to tell him."

The words hung for a minute.

"Please tell me I am not dreaming. I fell asleep crying and this is a dream. I am going to wake up alone and sad, and—"

David knelt down, cupped Archie's face in his hands and kissed him, their lips barely touching but for a minute. It was enough to bring David to a sort of super awareness of his whole body.

"Archie, shut up, okay? This isn't a dream."

Archie nodded, then pulled David to him, and the only sounds were their clothes rustling, sighs and whispered promises. Archie's hands grasped David's shirt as David pulled away.

"Why are you stopping?"

"Because I want to do this the right way."

Archie sighed. "You want to go out on a date?"

"Several actually. And I promise I'll call."

That earned David a laugh. "Gosh, David. I want that too."

David nodded, kissing Archie again, quickly before his body got any more ideas than it already had.

"Will you stay though? Maybe watch a movie?"

"Sure. But none of that Disney schlock."

"You're just saying that because you cry at every one of them."

"I do not"

"There is videographic evidence that you cry over everything."  
David grinned and shrugged, sitting with his back against the head board. "True."

Archie crawled beside him, snuggling against his chest. "I wish I would have told you earlier."

"I wish I would have told you."

David sighed as _Finding Nemo_ came on, lacing his fingers through Archie's.

"I love you, Arch."

"Love you too, David. Now hush the movie's starting."

David smiled and kissed the top of Archie's head. It was the beginning of a beautiful year to come.

It was the beginning of the rest of his life.  
  



End file.
